Bridge hands for discussion 4/05 tourney

[MNBridge]

Result not out yet but its gonna be good I think

BOOM Back to Back 1st's -- 25+ IMPs in 12 boards.

Hand A

What would you bid with the following hand?

P deals (you non vul v vul)

T
A74
Q98
AKJT54

Partner Deals

4H - 4S - 5H (?) - 5S
P - P - 6H (?) - Dbl
All Pass

[Klaymen]

Here's an interesting hand: I opened 1 and LHO overcalled 1. 2 by partner and I bid 2NT which is raised to 3. LHO plunks down the A and I see:


K9
JT3
AQJT8532

AKQ
JT75
K8654
6

Nice. Who dreamt up this hand knowing I would get stuck here? RHO pitches a spade on the next heart trick. I don't want to try the clubs and lose a trick i might not have to; I'll be content to score 2 hearts, 3 diamonds, 3 spades and a club. I lead the J which is taken by RHO's ace, LHO playing low and a spade is returned. I don't know how things will progress but I lead my K hoping to drop the Q. To keep it interesting, LHO pitches a heart.

This could actually work. As I concede 3 diamond tricks and catch 3 spade returns, I know I am going to get a count on LHO's hand and squeeze him (if RHO has the K I'm a goner anyway). Indeed LHO keeps the Q and Kx and I therefore take a successful club finesse for the last three tricks. If LHO pitches the top heart I am starting at three top tricks.

Now it turns out that LHO started with only two clubs and once in hand I could have run the suit. But I'm hardly going to assume that. A point to consider though. On the third diamond trick when I played the ten RHO took it with a holding of Q9. If RHO ducks I am a goner. I am lokced in dummy and would have to take a club and put LHO in with the king. LHO can now cash the high heart and I still have the loser diamond in my hand that RHO will collect. Locking declarer in dummy can often be a great strategy.

+11.4 IMPs in a 1st in 15-pair section, 2nd overall among 60-some!

[Been There Done That]

I watched the hand being played. When Lefty shows out on the Diamond K, you should consider getting rid of that poisoned Ten of Diamonds.

[E. Blackadder]

Originally Posted by MNBridge

Result not out yet but its gonna be good I think

BOOM Back to Back 1st's -- 25+ IMPs in 12 boards.

Hand A

What would you bid with the following hand?

P deals (you non vul v vul)

T
A74
Q98
AKJT54

Partner Deals

4H - 4S - 5H (?) - 5S
P - P - 6H (?) - Dbl
All Pass

is that you decide whether you will bid on first. If there's sufficiently good reason to bid 5 then take the push to 6, you know about it when you first bid 5. A good reason is "I think they'll make 5, and we won't go down much in 6." A bad reason is pretty much anything that you didn't think of before they went to 5.

Presumably there's a poker analogy, but it's before caffeine.

[MNBridge]

Originally Posted by E. Blackadder

is that you decide whether you will bid on first. If there's sufficiently good reason to bid 5 then take the push to 6, you know about it when you first bid 5. A good reason is "I think they'll make 5, and we won't go down much in 6." A bad reason is pretty much anything that you didn't think of before they went to 5.

Presumably there's a poker analogy, but it's before caffeine.

Yes I decided before I bid 5 if they bid 5 and P didn't dbl I would bid 6.

I thought about going to 6 immediately but didn't see the advantage. The only reason to go straight to 6 is:
(A) I am fairly certain they will make slam
(B) and they won't find it if I bid 6 but will find it if I bid 5.

[Klaymen]

My hand was:

AJ
QJTxxxx
xxx
x

I won the spade lead and played a heart to the ace and RHO played the king. Now I played the two top clubs and LHO's Qx dropped. I chose to ruff a club high in hand, draw the remaining trump, and ruff back to the good clubs in dummy, making 7.

I knew the opponents were good players and the vulnerability was on our side, so I made an aggressive pre-empt. Personally I would have doubled 5 with mn's hand and not bid on to 6 because I don't think either side has enough strength for their bidding. Granted the opponents might make that and more with club shortness but in reality they were losing 1 2 and 1 while I could be off 2-3 diamonds and a heart.

[MNBridge]

Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

.............

.................. so I made an aggressive pre-empt. ...........

Not as agressive as some

[Numbers Nerd]

I like the 6H bid. Doubling 5S could be right. But you are risking an awful lot of IMPs on that bet. Far safer in the long run is to bid more when in doubt. You have a pretty fair idea that 6H is not going down more than 2. This is a standard IMP strategy for high level contracts where both sides have lots of tricks - take the probable small loss by bidding rather than risking a larger loss by letting the opponents play the hand. And as you showed on your example hand, sometimes you even make your bid!!!

[Been There Done That]

Originally Posted by Numbers Nerd

This is a standard IMP strategy for high level contracts where both sides have lots of tricks - take the probable small loss by bidding rather than risking a larger loss by letting the opponents play the hand.

This can be good strategy in a long match (and maybe one with VP's). Frequent small losses really hurt in a short match; the infrequent huge loss hurts too, but it is infrequent.

[E. Blackadder]

Originally Posted by MNBridge

Yes I decided before I bid 5 if they bid 5 and P didn't dbl I would bid 6.

I thought about going to 6 immediately but didn't see the advantage. The only reason to go straight to 6 is:
(A) I am fairly certain they will make slam
(B) and they won't find it if I bid 6 but will find it if I bid 5.

No offense / condensation intended. A lot of this is for the benefit of the unwashed masses* who hope to find enlightment on this forum.

*No, not telling.